Ex-Prime Minister: Greece May Run Out Of Money 'In A Few Weeks'

It’s only a matter of weeks before Greece goes broke, at least according to the country’s former Prime Minister.

George Papandreou, the former leader of the socialist PASOK party in Greece, told Bloomberg Television that the country is in “a make or break period” if officials want to stave off running out of money.

“I think we have a few weeks [before the country runs out of money] and that's why it would be imperative that we first of all have a government and second we take necessary measures and show we are credible, we have signed up to this agreement, we may want some modifications, but we want to show we are credible when we sign as a government as Greeks with our partners,” Papandreou said in the interview.

That bailout came with costs. The Greek government had to agree to painful austerity measures to get the the bailout. European Union officials warned in May that the country would need to stick to those terms to stay in the eurozone.

As the Greek populace has grown increasingly fed up with the bailout terms, some politicians have floated the idea of leaving the shared currency. It’s even possible that leftists who oppose the austerity terms could outpoll the more mainstream parties that signed on to the bailout deal during Greece’s election next Sunday.

Papandreou, for his part, said that Europe’s love affair with austerity is creating a “vicious circle” of economic issues, in an interview with The Huffington Post in April. Still, he maintained that Greece should stay in the eurozone.